A Castle In The Sky With Views Across A Kingdom

Hike Up West Rock Ridge To A 200-Square-Mile View

An interior view of Judges Cave in West Rock Ridge State Park. (MARK MIRKO | mmirko@courant.com,…)

February 02, 2012|Peter Marteka, Nature's Path & Way To Go

Before you reach the top of West Rock, a long strip of cement and traprock wall joins your journey as you ascend to the top of New Haven's highest point. By the time you reach the overlook, the large wall resembles a castle turret and before you sprawls your kingdom.

Out to the south, you gaze at the blue waters of Long Island Sound for your ships returning from their explorations. Below you, the bustle of trade and commerce, and to the east and north the mysterious mountains hold their secrets.

OK, so you aren't really a king. But as you stand on top of the wall and surrounding ridge overlooking a 200-square-mile swath of water, cities, mountains and forests, you sure feel powerful. A siren blares in the distance, children play at recess, and cars and buses race around the city. And there you stand — a solitary figure in the middle of the woods watching it all from high above.

Winter is as good a time as any to visit the top of West Rock and the traprock ridge that begins its journey north deep into the mountains of Massachusetts. With the access road seasonally closed, cars and visitors are few, giving you that "last person on Earth" feeling as you walk along the twisting and turning road to the main overlook.

When you reach the top, look for the Connecticut Forest & Park Association's blue-blazed "Regicides Trail," which travels along the western edge of West Rock Ridge with, at times, only a chain-link fence between you and a sheer drop. The trail weaves its way along the ridge to Judges Cave — a huge, split boulder that once hid two Englishmen who had signed the death warrant of a king.

According to the legend, the "cave" is named after Edward Whalley and William Goffe who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England after the English Civil War. After the monarchy was restored, the judges became enemies of the state and fled, seeking shelter in the New World and the boulder.

The trail continues through a pitch pine-cedar tree-scrub oak forest and over the Wilbur Cross Parkway's Heroes Tunnel. A large stone building covers an air shaft marking the tunnel's midpoint. The sounds of cars can be heard whispering below, providing an unnatural — and unsettling — noise as you climb back to the top of the ridge.

Visitors can continue on the trail or follow a gravel road that reconnects with Regicides. From here visitors can continue another 5 miles along the scenic ridge as the viewscape turns more rural and forested. The yellowish-orange traprock cliffs are dramatic and striking, set off by old cedars.

So come climb up and view your kingdom. There is nothing wrong with feeling a little royal now and then.